Melons: The Repeat Recall Offenders of Fruit

by Jessie Cacciola, Posted Mar 29th 2011 @ 12:00PM

Melons are not having a good start to the season. A mass recall of 4,992 cartons of Del Monte cantaloupes was issued in seven western states last Tuesday due to potential Salmonella outbreak at their Asunicion Mita farm in Guatemala, according to the company's press release. But this isn't the first time melons have posed a health risk.

The Food and Drug Administration notes that between 1996 and 2008, 13 out of 83 infected types of fresh produce were melons, and 10 were cantaloupe. Ray Costa, a registered sanitarian and food safety education advocate, tries to explain why in Food Safety News.

Melons are basically ground dwellers. If you've seen a melon grow, you know it spends all of its time resting idly on dirt, which is fine if it's picked as soon as it's ripe. "Animals such as deer, coyotes, raccoons, rodents, feral pigs, and birds are attracted to the crop at this stage," writes Costa. From there, melons generally aren't washed before going to packaging and off to consumers, who do their de facto shake-sniff-knock ripe-check at the grocery store and may not even wash their fruit at home.

As for the "protective" rind? Not so. "Until recently, experts assumed little or no growth of bacteria could occur on the hard outer surfaces of a cantaloupe," writes Costa, "but recognized that the netted exterior provided an excellent site for the attachment of bacteria." Researchers also now know that Salmonella can penetrate that exterior, "even when no bruising occurs," he notes. So what's a consumer to do?

Check the country of origin on the fruit -- there are flimsier food safety laws outside the U.S. Also, be gentle -- try not to knock them around too much in the store and don't buy one that's too ripe or damaged. Place it in a bag in the produce department, then wash your hands -- and the melon -- at home and replace the bag with a clean one before storing in the refrigerator.

Filed Under: Health & Medical, Recalls
Tags: cantelope recall, featured, melons, salmonella

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

3-31-2011 @11:36AM Geri Biscardi said... I am an old gal at cooking and preparing non-cooked foods. My mother and grandmother(from Italy) always washing the vegetables, including squash, eggplant, tomatoes and of course any melons because they thought about where the product came from, earth etc, how many people handled it who were working in the fields, sjifting thru soil, wiping their runny nose on their hands and then handled the products--Sooo, everything always was washing, and I continue doing it. My chicken handling is always done in the cleaned kitchen sink, washing, dipping, breading and placing in clean dishes for placing into the cooking pans or oven baking. IT's common sense--think about what you are preparing and by what procedures it reached your kitchen. I always buy Purdue chicken, the very bedst handling processes, and the least added ingredients to alter the taste or freshness. I thank Purdue for being ahead of the game of providing the public with healthy products, not just good nutrition items, but good handling and processing--All companies need to follow Purdue's leadership. I worked in a very prominent food buffet restaurant in Amish Country and my duties required prep of all breakfast foods, which of cours included all fruits and fresh items, and I washed each and every item before cutting into them, oranges, grapefruits, bananas, melons applies etc--becasue cutting thru a fruit with a knife or sharp instrument carries impurities right down into the fruit. It would be sometihng that restaurants need to consider. Fruits are dropped on the floor and laid in dirty areas, and I'd not want to eat anything that went thru some of the dirty conditions that exist both in markets and restaurants. A little forethought will keep the restaurants from being taregeted as having sickened patrons, especially patrons who arrive in buffet restaurants from long distance locations, and become ill -vomiting and diarrhea on the bus going home--Think how disgusting the situation could be!! This melon information raises a very important red flag!!
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